In a conventional poker machine, one or more five card poker games are offered to the player. To play a game, the player deposits money in the form of coins, gaming tokens or paper currency either into a coin head or bill acceptor (“the coin-in”). The coins and gaming tokens are collected in a reservoir inside the gaming machine (“the hopper”) while the paper currency is collected in the bill acceptor inside the gaming machine. If the coins, gaming tokens or paper currency are validated as authentic, the player accrues the appropriate number of playing units (“credits”) on a credit meter on the gaming machine depending on the denomination of the wager as set on the gaming machine. For example, a 25-cent gaming machine will accrue four credits for each dollar deposited into the gaming machine by way of the coin head or the bill acceptor.
After accruing credits on the credit meter, the player determines how many credits he wishes to wager (“total bet”) and then deals the cards by pressing the Deal button. In a Draw Poker game, the machine deals five cards face-up (“deal”) from a deck of fifty-two cards (“deck”); the player makes a decision as to which cards to hold and which cards to discard (“discard”); discarded cards are replaced with new cards from the remaining cards in the deck (“draw”); and the game determines the value based on poker hand rankings of the resulting five cards (“the final hand”). In a Stud Poker game, there is just a deal and final hand, with no discard or draw. In other poker games, there may be other methods of play, such as limitations on the number of discards (i.e. three or fewer cards), two or more draws (i.e. double-draw), and/or more or less than five card in the poker hand (i.e. three card poker).
The player collects credits for various types of card combinations in the final hand, according to a predetermined schedule (“pay table”). The number of credits indicated by the pay table multiplies the total wager (“pay out”). For example: a player wagers 10 credits on a deal; achieves a final hand worth 6 credits; and receives a 60-credit pay out, or 10-credit total wager times 6-credit award indicated by the pay table.
Following any pay out, the credits won are added to the player's balance of credits shown in the credit meter. As long as the player has credits on the credit meter, the player may continue to play the gaming machine or the player may collect the remaining balance of credits by pressing a Cash Out button the gaming machine. In addition, the player may view the rules of the game by pressing the Help button before any deal.
Thus, a conventional poker machine only issues awards for specific card combinations, according to a fixed pay table. As a result of this limitation:                Poker games utilize static pay tables. A single, simple change in a pay table may impact traditional poker strategy and, therefore, force the player to learn a new, and possibly complex, poker strategy. In addition, many players desire traditional pay tables (i.e. bonus poker and double-bonus poker) and do not play games with unfamiliar pay tables.        Poker games do not utilize bonus features. A single simple bonus feature may reduce the traditional pay table and cause a strategy change and/or create an unfamiliar pay table.        
It is an object of the present invention to address these limitations and create a poker game that enhances the traditional pay table, utilizes bonus features and does not impact traditional poker strategy.